Ski Tow

ABSTRACT

The invention is a portable ski tow with multiple settings to match the skiing ability of the skier. It can be mounted to any boat. It can be remote controlled to control the length of the ski rope to match the skiing event. The present invention is ski tow with a base, cover, motor, spool and ski rope with a wireless controller to set the length of the ski rope.

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS (IF ANY)

None.

BACKGROUND 1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to an automatic ski rope reel and tow mechanism for winding and storing the ski rope when not in use by a water skier, and more particularly the invention relates to a device adapted for positioning on an inboard or outboard boat where in the rope used to tow a water skier is mechanically wound on a reel, which reel also serves as a connection for the rope to the boat.

2. Description of Prior Art

As a product, a Ski Tow device will be influenced by several different industries or consumers. Wikipedia indicates that the number of people in the US, who actively participate in water skiing, is about 11 million people. Additionally, in the US each year there is about 900 events, which focus on waterskiing activities, such as competitions or other events.

However, the one problem with ski tows are they are not interchangeability; thus, people cannot use them on boats that are not their own and if they do it could leave “scars” on the borrowed boat.

There is still room for improvement in the art.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is ski tow with a base, cover, motor, spool and ski rope. The ski tow would have a wireless controller to set the length of the ski rope.

The main object of the invention is to ease to use of ski tows and get them in front of the public to change to sport of water skiing forever. The current invention makes any conventional ski rope fully automatic, while increasing the safety of the sport.

The ski tow speeds up skiing (especially tournament events) by shortening the rope without stopping the boat to manually execute the task.

The ski tow will have five models or settings allowing any rope to meet all the skier's needs. The top will advance thee skier with continuous slalom without a need to stop the boat to a manually shorten the rope as it is performed automatically. The settings are novice, national, master, Sunday skier and pro. The ski rope is also remote controlled so that officials of a skiing event and control the ski rope.

The ski tow are portable and can be easily mounted to any watercraft regardless of the size.

The current invention is more efficient, effective, accurate and functional than the current art.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Without restricting the full scope of this invention, the preferred form of this invention is illustrated in the following drawings:

FIG. 1 shows the ski tow device with a cover of the present invention;

FIG. 2 display the ski tow device with a tow rope;

FIG. 3 displays the ski tow with the cover off;

FIG. 4 shows a diagram of the electronic components;

FIG. 5 is a top view of the guide;

FIG. 6 is a view of the guide finger;

FIG. 7 is a top view of the guide;

FIGS. 8a and 8b are a detail view of the guide;

FIG. 9 is another view of the cover;

and

FIG. 10 is a view of the drive motor.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

There are a number of significant design features and improvements incorporated within the invention.

The current invention is an improved automatic ski rope reel and tow mechanism 1 for winding and storing the ski rope when not in use by a water skier. It is a device adapted for positioning on an inboard or outboard boat where in the rope used to tow a water skier is mechanically wound on a reel, which reel also serves as a connection for the rope to the boat.

Referring now to FIGS. 1 through 9 of the drawings, the reference numeral 10 designates the housing having a removable cover 20. The lower part of the housing 10 is preferably constructed of plastic or a light metal such as aluminum and is ‘relatively small’ in size being approximately 8¼ inches long, 8 inches wide and 3¼ inches high.

The cover 20 is attached to the base 10 through a number of bolts 21 which run through the cover 20 into bolt attaching holes 22 in the base 10. These connections secure the cover 20 to the base 10.

The end plate 91 is mounted on the spool axis/ratchet 27 by a press fit. The end plate 91 is adapted to be snapped onto the spool portion 331 and can be removed when it is desired to tie or untie a knot in the end of the rope 50. The spool drive gear 95 is mounted on a stub shaft 43 and is connected to the plate 91 so that they will rotate together. A level wind spring-loaded guide finger 45 is disposed between the spool 90 and the electric motor 70 on a shaft 47 provided with left and right hand treads or grooves. In the preferred embodiment, the level wind guide finger 45 is made of plastic. The guide housing 51 is carried on the shaft 47 by a holder 53 having a follower 55 provided with a thin blade 57 as shown in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6. The blade 57 which is about as wide as the groove 49 is provided with an arcuate recess 56 and adapted to be received in the groove or threads 49. The lade will follow the threads 49 as the shaft 47 is rotated ad move the housing 51 longitudinally with respect to the spool 90. The spring 59 maintains the blade 57 in contact with the threads 49. The guide housing 51 is also provided with a recessed portion 61 for receiving a spring 63 and a guide element 65. The plunger 67 receives the guide element 65 that is forcibly mainlined against the rope 50 by means of the spring 63. The head 71 of the plunger 67 is provided with a grooved or curved portion 73 which corresponds to the curvature of the periphery of the spool and is adapted to receive the rope 50. The gear 69 will rotate the shaft 47 so that the lade 57 will move the guide housing 51 along the longitudinal axis of the shaft 47. When the guide housing caches the end of the shaft 47, it will be reversed and will allow the opposite thread on the shaft.

The guide housing 51 is provided with a recess 52 which adapted to receive a track 54 mounted on the casing or rousing 14. The track 54 serves to maintain the guide rousing 51 and plunger 67 in radial alignment with the spool 90.

The cover 20 is provided with a rectilinear opening 35. A recess 79 is provided in the cover 20 and is adapted to receive a flange 83 mounted on the guide member 81 which is disposed in the opening 35.

The guide member 30 is substantially square in shape and is provided with a round opening 91 having a flared portion at 93 so that the guide member will not fray the ski rope as it passes therethrough.

A plate 97 having a round opening 99 for receiving a plastic grommet 101 which has a diameter slightly larger than the diameter of the ski rope 50 is mounted on the posts through openings (not shown) in the plate 97. A projection 96 extending from the plate 97 is adapted to contact a copper strip to form a normally closed electrical switch 95. The plate 97 is resiliently mounted on the posts by means of springs as illustrated at 109 and 113. A backing plate 107 is mounted on the posts and is provided with a round opening 117 slightly larger than the opening in the grommet 101. The edges of the opening 117 are rounded so as not to fray the ski rope 29 as it passes therethrough. The opening 117 in the backing plate also serves as a guide to center the ski rope 29 in the plastic grommet 101 as the rope passes therethrough to prevent accidental breaking of the contact between the projection 96 and the plate 115 in the normally closed switch 95. The posts are flared at 118 after the parts described above have been assembled.

A recess 119 is formed in the cover 20 to receive a stiff ribbon 121 which is attached to the guide member 81 at 82 and 84. As illustrated in FIG. 7, the side of the cover 13 is also provided with a recess 123 which serves to guide the ribbon or cover 121 into the recess 119 and also serves to store the ribbon as the guide member 81 slides back and forth in the opening 77. The ribbon 121 will close the opening 77 to prevent any water from entering the case when the device is in operation. If desired, the ribbon can be omitted from the device, and a drain opening (not shown) can be formed in the bottom of the casing 20.

As illustrated in FIG. 8, a magnetic drive 133 is connected to the drive shaft 136 of the motor 70. The magnetic drive 133 is formed by a pair of circular magnetic holders and 137 having a plurality of spaced radial recesses 139 to receive a number of permanent ceramic magnets 141 which are separated by a union or ball bearing 143. The holder 137 is provided with a bore 144 to receive the shaft 136. The holder 135 is provided with a bore 145 to receive one end 147 of a stub shaft 149. The stub shaft 149 is mounted in a bearing 151 which is carried by a U-shaped support 153 formed on the casing 20. The holders 135 and 137 are chamfered at 145 to provide a seat for the bearing 143.

As describe above, located on the top front of the cover 20 is a ski rope opening 35. A guide member 30 is located in the ski rope opening 35 and runs along a track within the ski rope opening 35. The guide member 30 is substantially oval in shape and is provided with a round opening 31 having a flared portion so that the guide member will not fray the ski tow rope 50 as it passes there through. The round opening 31 would be slightly bigger than the diameter of the ski tow rope 50. The ski tow rope 50 goes through the round opening 31 from the spool 90. The guide member 30 go back and forth on a guide track with the opening 35 when the spool 90 is either letting out the ski tow rope 50 or pulling it back in so that the ski tow rope 50 spools on the spool 90 evenly without knots or kinks.

The lower part of the housing 10 supports and holds the spool 90, the motor 70 and the gears that attach the motor 70 to the spool 90. The motor 70 is housed in the back of the housing 10 and held up by supports. It is connected to a drive shaft 75 which connects the motor 70 with the drive gear 76. The drive gear 76 is attached the transfer gear 80.

The transfer gear 80 has a dual gear system with two gears sizes attached which is attached to the transfer gear axis 81 supported by gear supports 83 and 81. The transfer 80 transfers the rotations from the drive gear 76 to the spool gear 95. This is done in the preferred embodiment having an outer gear 80 that is meshed and driven by the drive gear 76 and an inner gear 84 that meshes with and rotates the spool gear 95 although any method that transfers the movement from the motor 70 to the spool 90 can be used

The motor 70 and the gears are multi-directional so that the spool 90 can release and pull in the ski tow rope 50. The spool 90 is removable so that the tow rope 50 can be attached to it or replaced when need be.

The tow ski rope 50 will have a knot or attachment means 60 to attached to the ski bar and also to prevent the ski tow rope 50 from being retracted into the spool 90 as it will be stopped at the guide member 30.

As a safety function, the ski tow 1 will not work if the lid 20 is removed. There will be a circuit breaker that will cut the power to the motor 70.

Assuming that the rope 50 has been secured to the spool 90 and wound completely thereon, the rope 50 may be manually unwound by exerting a small force on the end of the rope 50. The spool 90 will have a slight drag due to the rotation of the gear train, however, the drag is not sufficient to retard the unwinding of the rope. As a general rule, a ski rope 50 is approximately 75 feet in length and formed of nylon or other suitable plastic.

The guide member 81 will position the rope 50 perpendicular, or at an angle of approximately 90 with respect to the axis of the spool 90. This will assure that the rope 50 will remain in proper alignment with the guide member 45 which guide member, through the action of the plunger 67, will axially space the rope 29 on the spool 90, thus it will be seen that the entire rope can be wound or stored in a relatively small case.

At the close of the day or at the conclusion of the water skiing, it is desirable to reel in the entire length of the rope, whereby the remaining 10 or 12 feet is wound by turning the switch 110 which will re-energize the motor and the remaining portion will be wound on the spool 90. A knot 60 is disposed adjacent the end of the rope, and the knot 60 being larger than the Opening in the grommet 101 will open the normally closed switch 95 when the knot comes in contact with the grommet, thus breaking the holding circuit to the coil 127 which will de-energize the motor 70.

The ski tow 1 will have the ability to be remotely controlled. The ski tow will have a control box 100 with the remote control circuits. There will be a on and off switch 120, a wireless connection 110 and power source 130 as shown in FIG. 4. The power source 130 be a standalone battery or it can connect to the electrical system on the boat that it is on. In sporting events the judges can control the ski tow 1 wirelessly so that the skier is at the right length ski tow rope 50 using an antenna 110 to communicate with the ski tow 1.

The ski tow 1 in the preferred embodiment, will have five models or settings allowing any rope to meet all the skier's needs. The top will advance thee skier with continuous slalom without a need to stop the boat to a manually shorten the rope as it is performed automatically. The settings are novice, national, master, Sunday skier and pro. The ski tow rope 50 can be also remotely controlled so that officials of a skiing event and control the ski rope.

The user can stop or start the ski tow 1 at any time during manual recall of the ski tow rope 50. The ski tow 1 can pull a skier closer to the boat while the boat is stopped.

The ski tow 1 is portable and can be easily mounted to any watercraft regardless of the size. It is removable so it is not connected to a single boat. In the preferred embodiment, the ski tow 1 is attached with the use of a conventional T-post adapter.

FIG. 9 shows another view of the ski tow's cover displaying the power switch 110 and the on/off indicator light 38. The power switch 110 will cut off the power in case of an emergency or for the operation of the ski tow 1.

In the preferred embodiment, the ski tow 1 would have a disengagement level 37 that extend from the back of the base 10. As shown in FIGS. 8 and 10 The disengagement level 37 allows a user to disengage the motor 70 from the gears.

The ski tow 1 is an improvement over the prior art. For Slalom, the ski tow has a a larger motor 70 as well as steel gears. The ski tow 1 has a larger spool 90 than a ski tow used for standard water skiing.

Although the present invention has been described in considerable detail with reference to certain preferred versions thereof, other versions are possible. Therefore, the point and scope of the appended claims should not be limited to the description of the preferred versions contained herein.

As to a further discussion of the manner of usage and operation of the present invention, the same should be apparent from the above description. Accordingly, no further discussion relating to the manner of usage and operation will be provided. With respect to the above description, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of the invention, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by the present invention.

Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention. 

That which is claimed is:
 1. A reel and tow for a water ski rope comprising, in combination: an electric motor, a housing having means for supporting said electric motor therein, a rotating mechanism adapted to be disposed in said housing, a magnetic drive means connected between the electric motor and rotating mechanism, and slidable guide means for axially positioning the ski rope on the rotating mechanism including a member adapted to slide back and forth in a rectangular opening in the housing, said member having an opening to permit the ski rope to slide therethrough, electrical control means carried by said member, said electrical means adapted to de-energize the electric motor when the ski rope has been substantially Wound on the rotating mechanism where the motor can be controlled wirelessly.
 2. The combination of claim 1 wherein a slidable cover means is provided to close the rectangular opening in the housing as the member slides back and forth in the opening.
 3. The combination of claim 1 wherein said housing is portable.
 4. The combination of claim 1 wherein said has a disengagement level.
 5. The combination of claim 4 wherein the housing has a back and the disengagement level extends from the back of the housing.
 6. The combination of claim 1 having a power switch.
 7. The combination of claim 1 having an on/off indicator light.
 8. The combination of claim 1 wherein having steel gears.
 9. A reel and tow for a water ski rope comprising, in combination: an electric motor, a housing having means for supporting the electric motor therein, a spool mounted adjacent the electric motor, a first guide means carried within the housing, a second guide means carried on the housing and cooperating with the first guide means for maintaining the ski rope in a straight line between the first and second guide means so that the ski rope is in alignment with respect to the spool, and a magnetic drive means connected between the motor and spool for rotating the spool where the motor can be controlled wirelessly.
 10. The combination of claim 9 wherein said housing is portable.
 11. The combination of claim 9 wherein said has a disengagement level.
 12. The combination of claim 9 wherein the housing has a back and the disengagement level extends from the back of the housing.
 13. The combination of claim 9 having a power switch.
 14. The combination of claim 9 having an on/off indicator light.
 15. In a ski tow apparatus, the structure comprising: a windup spool having an operative tow connection with a flexible tow line, a first guide means and a second guide means for slidably directing the line as it traverses back and forth over the outer surface of said spool for coiling thereon, movable carriage means for guiding the movement of said first guide means whereby the coils of line are generated one coil adjacent the next and one coil is laid over the outer surface of the lower set of coils, and gear means for coordinating the movement of said first guide means with the rate of coiling of line over the surface of said spool where the motor can be controlled wirelessly.
 16. The combination of claim 15 wherein said housing is portable.
 17. The combination of claim 15 wherein the housing has a back and a disengagement level extends from the back of the housing.
 18. The combination of claim 15 having a power switch.
 19. The combination of claim 15 having an on/off indicator light.
 20. The combination of claim 15 having a level wind spring-loaded guide finger mechanism disposed between the spool and the electric motor on a shaft provided with left and right hand treads. 